Every day hundreds of contractors from all over Europe, thousands of requests for work to be carried out and various vehicles entering the site. Every year major maintenance is carried out on the dozens of factories, the so-called Turn Arounds, on the extensive site of more than 800 hectares called Chemelot. Sitech Services helps companies at Chemelot to get the best out of their factories. Unica Access & Security International is closely involved in these large-scale maintenance activities for Sitech Services.

Complex operations require accuracy

To carry out an operation of this magnitude safely and in a controlled manner, months of preparation are required. Anouk de Pee, Functional Manager at Unica Access & Security International explains: “A turnaround has an enormous impact and is an extremely complex project. The closure of factories is drastic and expensive. That is why the work is carefully planned well in advance, so that the turnaround can be controlled in the shortest possible time and carried out without risks."

^{Sander Rutten, Operations Security Manager at Sitech Services BV: “Unica Access & Security International is an indispensable partner for us that provides total solutions in the field of access control with a focus on safety & security.”}

Attendance registration of hundreds of contractors

The factories must be shut down in the shortest possible time and extremely efficiently. In addition, the maintenance work is very specialist in nature. That is why hundreds of contractors from all over Europe are present during the maintenance stop to carry out this. Simply entering the site is a no-go. Everyone must register in advance and meet the correct certifications and documents.

Functional Management for optimal use of access control

To contribute to this safety, correct and, above all, easy to access attendance registration in the access control system is of great importance. This concerns the functional design of the environment. Anouk: “Sitech Services and Unica Access & Security International have been working together for more than 15 years. Since 2021, Sitech Services has also outsourced the Functional Management of the access control system to Unica Access & Security International. So we are increasingly involved at the front end in the preparations for the turnaround. It is important for Sitech Services users that the application is clearly designed and easy to use. Especially considering the size of the project. Not only to maintain insight into the number of people present, but also to print reports for time registrations. You also have to deal with privacy legislation. Users are not allowed to view all personal data in detail, but they do need the relevant information to be able to do the right thing in the event of a disaster.”

Stop readers as part of the access control process

To ensure that people register safely and quickly, there are mobile card readers, called stop readers, in pre-defined zones on the site. In order to be able to arrange this for each Chemelot system user, the functional design of the access control system is important.

Anouk continues: “I think setting up the stop readers functionally is one of the most fun things to do. Namely because this complex device brings together all aspects of access control, namely;

1. Getting a clear picture of the user's wishes;
2. The configuration of the stop readers;
3. Setting up the access control system AEOS;
4. Setting up names, filters and presence zones in the area;
5. The design of the identity management platform YIM (previously Dataclient);
6. Making reporting available to communication users to consult the information".